If my debate partner is willing to change his mind or stop debating because the community disagrees, I want to know that. I also don’t think a) the community’s karma votes represent some sort of evidence of an argument’s rightness or b) that anyone has a right to such evidence that this tactic denies them.
You could make better arguments for your tactic than the ones you are making.
a) the community’s karma votes represent some sort of evidence of an argument’s rightness
It does. Noisy, biased evidence but still evidence. If I am downvoted I will review my position, make sure it is correct and trace out any the likely status related reasons for downvoting that would give an indication on how much truth value I think the votes contain.
If my debate partner is willing to change his mind or stop debating because the community disagrees, I want to know that. I also don’t think a) the community’s karma votes represent some sort of evidence of an argument’s rightness or b) that anyone has a right to such evidence that this tactic denies them.
You could make better arguments for your tactic than the ones you are making.
It does. Noisy, biased evidence but still evidence. If I am downvoted I will review my position, make sure it is correct and trace out any the likely status related reasons for downvoting that would give an indication on how much truth value I think the votes contain.